Sharks rookie Freddie Hamilton scored the game-winning goal at 2:59 of overtime and Harri Sateri made 27 saves for his first win of the season as the Worcester Sharks rallied to stun the Manchester Monarchs 4-3 Friday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Tim Kennedy, Curt Gogol and captain John McCarthy also scored for the Sharks, who are now tied with the Monarchs for first place of the AHL Atlantic Division.
After drawing a high sticking penalty on Monarchs captain Marc-Andre Cliche just 18-seconds into the game, Kennedy put the Sharks up 1-0 at 0:50 when he corralled a cross ice pass from Sharks defenseman Danny Groulx (who was in the left corner) and ripped a one-timer from the right slot past the blocker of Monarchs goaltender Martin Jones for his sixth goal of the season. Sena Acolatse was credited with the secondary assist.
Gogol extended the Sharks lead to 2-0 at 3:17 with his second goal of the season as he was able to get positioning in front of Jones and deflected home a Matt Tennyson blast from on top of the face-off circles. James Livingston was credited with the secondary assist.
Nick Deslauriers answered back for the Monarchs with a power play goal, his first goal of the season, at 6:03 off a wrist shot from the right half wall that got through a screen in front and beat Sateri blocker side. The Monarchs tied the game at 14:56 when Jordan Nolan slammed home a loose rebound for his first goal of the season after Sateri had made the initial save on Thomas Hickey’s slap shot from the center point.
Late in the second period and with the Sharks hemmed in their own zone for several shifts, the Monarchs grabbed their first lead of the game at 16:44 when Andrew Bodnarchuk fired a slap shot from the right point that got through a screen in front and beat Sateri for his second goal of the season.
McCarthy tied the game at 13:13 of the third period with his second goal of the season when he roofed a wrist shot past Jones, who created a loose rebound in the slot on his initial save of Groulx’s slap shot blast from the left point. Kennedy and Bracken Kearns were credited with the assists.
In overtime, Groulx corralled the puck at the right half wall off a broken play and got the puck in front to Hamilton, who went backhand-to-forehand and slid the puck past Jones for the game-winning goal, his second goal of the season. Brodie Reid was credited with the secondary assist.
NOTES: Shots were 32-30 in favor of the Sharks… The Sharks went 1-for-4 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill… Sateri is now 1-4-0-1 with a 3.82 goals-against-average and .861 save percentage… The Sharks snapped a seven game win-less streak at the Verizon Wireless Arena (0-4-3) and extended their road winning streak to four games… Groulx (0-2-2) and Kennedy (1-1-2) had multi-point games for the Sharks… Tennyson finished +3 for the Sharks… Jon Matsumoto (inj), Travis Oleksuk (scr), Nick Petrecki (inj) and Jimmy Bonneau (scr) did not dress for the Sharks… This was the third of 12 meetings between the teams this season… The Sharks are 2-1-0-0 vs. the Monarchs this season, 4-3-0-1 on the road and 8-6-1-1 overall.
Three Stars
1. Freddie Hamilton – Sharks (1-0-1, GWG in OT)
2. John McCarthy – Sharks (1-0-1)
3. Thomas Hickey – Monarchs (0-1-1)
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